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Jarvan IV
Build Guide by CounterSnipe

This build has been archived and is for historical display only.

PLEASE NOTE: This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.

Introduction

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Hello everyone, I am CounterSnipe and I am a 1300-1400 elo player on the North American servers. I've been jungling on Summoner's Rift for about a year now and have had experience with many different jungle types. I've had a lot of time to play in this new jungle, and have updated this guide to allow people to jungle Jarvan during pre-season 3. I feel that the items which are currently being used will eventually be re-worked as i'm finding some of them to be slightly O.P (Cough* The Black Cleaver). In any case, I'm going to be going over everything about this champion that I know of, so please stick around through the whole guide! Thanks.

Runes

I get these because they allow my jungle clear times to be fast once I acquire Madred's Razors. Combined with your Demacian Standard you will be able to clear camps exceptionally fast, which means you will have more time for ganks.

These are mandatory because the new jungle absolutely destroys junglers on their first clear. You they also help for absorbing damage when ganking during early levels.

These don't influence your jungle defense, but allow you to take more damage when ganking early.

I get these because of the recent base M.S. Buff. These now have an overall greater impact on the game than they did before, and will make you feel like you're running with Boots of Speed.

Note that you can swap out the reds, the blues, and the quints depending on your playstyle, but the flat armor yellows are a must.

Masteries

I've had to change the way I play Jarvan due to the new jungle. Before he could easily be played as a highly offensive champion with 21 points in offense... If you were to attempt this in the new jungle you would still be able to jungle, but if anyone were to counter you during your route you would almost certainly die.

With this said, I've adopted a 9/21/0 mastery page. The 9 points in offense allow me to jungle slightly faster during my first few clears than if I didn't have them at all. The 21 points in defense are there so that J4 can accept a lot of jungle damage while still having enough HP to provide his team with ganks through out his clears. It's simply a standard tanky mastery set up that you can apply to 90% of the junglers in the game. It's simply here for you to manage your first few clears safely while providing your champion with sustain.

Summoner Spells

This increases your early game gank damage, and allows you to reduce the damage from anyone on the opponent team who is "fed." I like to save this specifically for when a powerful opponent is about to drop lots of damage on my carry. I find this helps me win more games and secure more victorious team fights.

Jarvan has a built in dash and doesn't need flash. However, it can allow him to edge closer to land his ultimate if his dash is down. The problem I see J4 players getting into when they take Flash is that they like to E>Q> Flash>Ult, and get displaced from their team. This combo is fine, but only if your team is in range to help you.

You cannot jungle without smite. Allows you to secure buffs and monsters. Also a good counter jungling mechanism.

Items

The Start:

You need to start with the new jungle item because without it your clears will be painfully slow. At first, it kind of sucks to have to always build the exact same thing at the start of a game, but you can start to diversify after you go back to base! It's honestly not bad after your first clear, I promise!

The Early Game

This item is superior to the Spirit Stone as far as jungle clear times go. It's still a powerful jungle item, and with your Greater Mark of Attack Speed you'll be clearing your jungle very quickly. DO not forget to place the ward when it is up.

This item now costs a little bit more, but is still an amazing item to get. You will eventually need to get this if your lanes do not have a way of following up on your CC abilities, and you will generally want this to be built into a Frozen Mallet.

This item is OP and should be purchased if your mid and top laners refuse to ward. It builds into Ruby Sightstone which makes yous slightly tanky and allowes you to place 3 free wards. If you cannot afford this item, just buy regular wards and go on with life!

Mid Game

This item has, and always will be, amazing. They changed the stats around a little bit, but it's still the same thing. It eventually upgrades into the Runic Bulwark, which is almost as powerful as the old Force of Nature. You want to get this item at some point in the game because it gives you everything you will need to be the team's initiator.

Let me specify that this item should eventually be purchased at some point in the game, but the time in which you get it is situational. Sometimes I get this mid game, sometimes I get it later in the game. It's up to you. It gives too much HP and utility for an initiator to pass up.

These are nice, and I feel that they are needed to help make up for the loss of Force of Nature from the item's roster. They're nice to have, and are excellent to purchase against double AP team compositions. If you feel you need extra armor, then by all means get the armor boots. Don't feel limited to buying these every single game.

Late Game

I don't always get this item, but it's nice to have if you need armor and damage. Keep your options open.

I love this item now that it gives more HP. It's just fantastic for stopping enemy auto attackers, and really helps to slow down entire enemy teams in team fights.

This item does a lot of damage, makes you slightly tanky, and is just great for the price. I encourage you to purchase this over Last Whisper if you're seeking late game damage as this will allow you to really lay into opponents quite well.

It's always a safe bet if you're defenses are somewhat over 100 each. More HP never really hurts, but you should only get this item if your resistances are up to par. If you notice the enemy team seems to get you down to 60% HP though magic damage, then buy your resistances, and then move onto this item.

Ok. You're only going to ever get this thing if you are literally picking up a kill every 5 minutes and somehow have the highest CS on the team. It should only be purchased after you have over 130 of each resistance and about 3.5K HP, and are level 18. This item is useless to you as an initiator because it offers no sustain other than a little HP. If you rush this item you are being foolish as the most you will be able to do is E>Q into someone, land a few hits, and then die. I'm not saying this item is not viable, I'm just saying you need to have a lot of sustain before you even think about it. Replace Wriggle's Lantern with this if you must. The Black Cleaver might actually be stronger than this thing... I'm not sure O.o

Abilities

I recommend smartcasting all of Jarvan's abilities as it makes landing his combinations much faster.

This passive allows Jarvan to deal large amounts of damage against large creeps, high HP opponents, and to multiple people in team fights. What I like to do, if possible, is to rotate this ability and hit different people in team fights. However, you should always consider the carries to be your primary targets.

Jarvan's Q is used mainly as a tool to knock up opponents with your E. You want to attempt to hit as many people as possible with this in a team fight as it does reduce armor by a %, not a flat amount. Use this to poke at opponents when covering a lane, or to last hit a champion or creep.

This ability gives Jarvan a nice CC ability when ganking, but do not consider this to be a replacement for your red buff, or for Phage. This ability just opens up an opportunity for more damage to be done to an enemy when ganking. It's useful during the late game in team fights because it can be used to slow multiple people. The shield strength is quite week, and due to it's high cd it won't really be used that often, even in late game team fights. However, it's better than nothing.

This is Jarvan's main jungling ability. This allows Jarvan to clear camps decently well as it does damage on impact and grants him attack speed. You want to use this, in conjunction with your Dragon Strike to escape from opponents or initiate fights. Always make sure to have this thing down in a team fight as your allies do gain the passive. Also remember that Jarvan double dips into his passive when this is active. It also grants vision, so you can use this for early scouting to see if you are being invaded.

A trick when landing his E>Q combination is to press E on a location and then just hold down Q without moving your mouse. This will allow J4 to quickly dash to his flag, and is the fastest way to land the combination.

Your flag can also jump over terrain. Use this if you're far from a fight/are low on HP and cannot fight, but still want your allies to have the buff.

Jarvan's ultimate is cast specifically on one enemy champion, and then the spherical walls will surround him and the target champion. This ability cannot be placed anywhere on the map, as I first thought it was used, and must be cast on a champion. It will follow the champion if he or she flashes, or a dash prior to the ultimate landing. However, people can escape it the ultimate after it has landed, including Jarvan.

A trick I like to do with this ability is to use it on multiple people, and then E>Q out of the ultimate. I usually do this if I'm very low in a team fight, but still want to give my ultimate to my team.

Another trick is to cast this, and then use your E>Q ability inside the ultimate's walls. Note that when Jarvan first starts his e>q, enemies within roughly a 100 unit radius of Jarvan are immediately knocked up, even if they are behind or on the side of him! This means that he will almost always be able to knock people up inside of his ultimate.

Another trick is to use E>Q>R to gap close and then ultimate onto an opponent. Note that this can be risky sometimes as it severely displaces you from your team. Do not over extend just to ult someone if your team cannot catch up and follow up on your initiation.

And please try to never trap your team in your ult if they'll die!

Goals Throughout The Game

Early Game:

1) Gank top and mid lanes at least once, try to force the enemy to burn their escapes.
2) Go about your clear, go back to base and get boots.
3) Go to your red, clear it, and then gank top and mid once more. This time they should result in kills because you previously burned their escapes.
4) Do not ignore bottom lane. Always ask where enemy wards are. If they're located in the river, attempt a lane gank. If it's all warded wait for the enemy to over extend and attempt a gank then. DO NOT IGNORE BOTTOM.
5) Look to the mini map to see if the enemy jungler is ganking a lane. If he is then attempt to counter jungle him by taking his creeps.
6) If you know that the enemy jungler started at a specific buff, ward it a little bit before the 6:00 mark so you can catch the enemy attempting to clear his buff. Usually blue buff is taken and re spawns at ~7:10~.

Mid Game:

1) Protect your towers, always make sure that you are covering a lane when someone needs to go back.
2) Look to your lanes to see if there's an opportunity to gank or if you notice that one of your lanes needs some breathing room.
3) Ward the enemy jungle to predict his path.
4) Try to keep your farming around the middle lane. This is to allow you to go to dragon if you notice the enemy is attempting to do it.
5) Ward baron, especially if the enemy team has a composition that allows them to take it down fast: ie Vayne + Nunu + Tiger Udyr.
6) Don't fall behind on levels, clear your camps.
7) Hand your buffs off to your carries so that they're able to lane better and so they have some additional gold. I like to give my red buff to my adc and my blue buff to my mid lane. If I notice my mid lane sucks (like really sucks) I will take blue for myself.

Late Game:

Be active in fights. You are the main initiator here. Always have an oracle on hand to clear wards, and always make sure that baron is under control. Make sure that you protect your carry and try to initiate and eat up as much damage as possible in fights so that your team can clean up. There is no shame in dying if your initiation allows your team to dominate the fight.

Video - Season 2 (Still Important stuff here)

Video of me in the old jungle, but the tips are still pretty solid all around.

Jungling and Routes

I usually do this route if my enemy jungler is of Medium speed, which means he should be at his red buff by the time I gank top and invade his red. Junglers tend to be weak and vulnerable while doing red pre-3 which allows for an excellent opportunity to steal or kill the enemy jungler. If you don't like counter jungling just do the top lane gank and then go about your business.

Route 2) Wolves > Blue > Wraiths> Wolves> Red > Gank Mid.

This is a simple clear route, but instead of holding onto Red Buff for later we are powering into it so that we can gank a Middle Lane. It's pretty easy, and you can totally pull it off if your team damages your blue buff for you. If they don't then go back to base once you clear the wolves for the second time, to to red and take it, then gank mid.

Route 3) Wraiths > Red Buff > Gank Mid/Gank Bottom.

With this route we are starting at our red buff in order to better allow for a level 2 gank in mid lane. It's a good idea if the enemy mid lane doesn't have a flash or is very slow and does not have an escape mechanism in their kit.

In this example we're going to level 2 gank Mid, attempt to burn his summoners, and then go through our route and attempt to gank him again. You're not attempting to go for a kill in mid, rather you're attempting to burn an enemy flash to set up a later gank.

Route 2) Wraiths > Red Buff> Gank Top/Mid > continue clear.

Simple level 2 gank attempt on a solo lane after acquiring your CC buff. Always try to gank the lane that has the highest % chance of preforming the better gank.

And always look for attempts to counter jungle if you see the enemy jungler ganking a lane! For example, If you start on blue side at your blue buff, and you see the enemy jungler, Dr. Mundo ganking top lane from his red buff, then you should march over to his blue buff and take it. By the time mundo finishes his gank and teleports back to base you will have already taken it and be doing your own jungle again.

ALSO, THE NEW JUNGLE WAS REMADE SUCH THAT YOU CAN NO LONGER GAIN A LEASH. YOU MUST AS YOUR TEAM TO DAMAGE YOUR BUFF AS YOU TANK IT, OTHERWISE PEOPLE WILL JUST HIT IT AND RUN AWAY WHILE THE BUFF KICKS YOUR BUTT.

When To Pick Jarvan? (Blind and Ranked Games)

Blind Pick Games:
Jarvan is a jungler who has strong ganks when he is ganking with an ally that has high damage or some kind of CC. If the ally laner has little, or no, cc, then the gank will be difficult.

For Ranked Games:
Consider who is on your team, and if they work well with J4. Always base your J4 pick on who has already been picked. It's been my experience that Jarvan is best suited as a late round counter pick, rather than early round pick due to the fact that many people can escape his ultimate. The following is a list (in alphabetical order) of champions who have the ability to escape/or enter, Jarvan's ultimate. Consider this list when picking him in games.

Ahri- Can leave your ult 3 times if she wants and laughs at you as she's doing it. Akali- Can ult to an enemy minion or champion in a team fight. Alistar- Can headbutt to an enemy to escape. Amumu- Can Q to a non-ally unit to escape Anivia- CANNOT ESCAPE. Annie- CANNOT ESCAPE. Blitzcrank- CANNOT ESCAPE. Ashe- CANNOT ESCAPE. Brand- CANNOT ESCAPE. Caitlyn- Can use her net Cassiopeia- CANNOT ESCAPE. Cho'Gath- CANNOT ESCAPE. Corki- Can use his exploding fart bs move Darius- CANNOT ESCAPE. Diana- Can ult out. Draven- CANNOT ESCAPE. Elise- She can leave your ult and laugh at you as you try to guess where she's going. so broken... Evelynn- CANNOT ESCAPE. Ezreal- He gets free flashes ***************** Fiddlesticks- He could ult out of your ult... I guess. Fiora- Can use Q Fizz- He get out of everything. Galio- CANNOT ESCAPE. Gangplank- CANNOT ESCAPE. Garen- CANNOT ESCAPE. Gragas- Can just run through your ult wall with his "look at me run through your wall with my belly" move. Graves- can dash through your wall. But he looks cool doing it so we don't get mad at him. Hecarim- can charge through your ult like a Bau5 Heimerdinger- CANNOT ESCAPE. Irelia- Can Q out, but you don't want her in your man cave anyway. Jarvan IV- Can EQ. Bs op move. Jax- Can Q out like a ********************** Jayce- CANNOT ESCAPE. Or can he? Karma- CANNOT ESCAPE. Karthus- CANNOT ESCAPE. Kassadin- Can free flash out because he's a *****. Katarina- BS blink moves. Kayle- CANNOT ESCAPE. Kennen- CANNOT ESCAPE. Kha'Zix- Doesn't need a target for his leap. Free outs. Nobody plays him tho so don't bother remembering this. Kog'Maw- CANNOT ESCAPE. LeBlanc- Has a completely broken displacement. Yes, she can leave. Lee Sin- Not only has 2 ways to escape your ult but can kick you out of your own ult. LUL Bau5 LEE SINNER Leona- She can E to an enemy champion Lulu- CANNOT ESCAPE. Malphite- Can use his ult to run... Malzahar- CANNOT ESCAPE. Maokai- Can use E to anything that isn't an ally/structure Master Yi- Can Q to an enemy and laugh at you running in your circle. Miss Fortune- CANNOT ESCAPE. Mordekaiser- CANNOT ESCAPE. Morgana- CANNOT ESCAPE. Nasus- CANNOT ESCAPE. Nautilus- CANNOT ESCAPE. Nidalee- can hop over your wall Nocturne- he can ult out but I doubt he'd ever waste it. Nunu- CANNOT ESCAPE. Olaf- CANNOT ESCAPE. Orianna- CANNOT ESCAPE. Pantheon- Same as Nocturne Rammus- CANNOT ESCAPE. Renekton- Can dash out of your wall and then dash back in if he's stupid. Rengar- If he's in a bush I think he can jump to an enemy and leave your ult Riven- OK SHE NEVER USED TO BE ABLE TO BUT NOW HER Q AND E ALLOW HER TO LEAVE YOUR ULT! Rumble- CANNOT ESCAPE. Ryze- CANNOT ESCAPE. Sejuani- can run through your ult Shaco- Can escape anything. Shen- Can dash/taunt through your wall Shyvana- Can Ult through your wall Singed- CANNOT ESCAPE. Sion- CANNOT ESCAPE. Sivir- CANNOT ESCAPE. Skarner- CANNOT ESCAPE. Sona- CANNOT ESCAPE. Swain- CANNOT ESCAPE. Syndra- CANNOT ESCAPE. Talon- Can blink/silence to an enemy Taric- CANNOT ESCAPE. Teemo- CANNOT ESCAPE. Tristana- Can literally jump over your head Trundle- CANNOT ESCAPE. Tryndamere- He will spin out of your wall Twisted Fate- He can ult out, but I don't think he'd waste it unless he had to. Twitch- CANNOT ESCAPE. Udyr- CANNOT ESCAPE. Urgot- CANNOT ESCAPE. Varus- CANNOT ESCAPE. Vayne- Can tumble out of your ult. - Credit to FalseoGod Veigar- CANNOT ESCAPE. Vladimir- CANNOT ESCAPE. But he does sometimes because of glitches! Volibear- CANNOT ESCAPE. Warwick- he can ult out to an enemy champion Wukong- CANNOT ESCAPE. Xerath- CANNOT ESCAPE. Xin Zhao- He can E out, or Ult you out of your ult lol. Yorick- CANNOT ESCAPE. Zed- He has a sloppy blink-ish ability, but he can do it too. Ziggs- He can go boom in your face and jump over your wall Zilean- CANNOT ESCAPE. Zyra- CANNOT ESCAPE.

SO NEEDLESS TO SAY JARVAN'S ULT DOES NOT CREATE IMPASSABLE WALLS AND HE NEEDS TO BE BUFFED TO STOP THIS MADNESS!

Ok but seriouely, always know who can and who cannot leave your ult. Also note that any champion who can leave your ult can also enter it! Hhuehuehehuehuehueheuheuheuheuehejdf983ujweid9f8u4jkw9diujf :D

Match ups

All of these junglers, with the exception of shen, almost always start at blue buff, which makes predicting their routes easy. Also, all of these junglers are very slow! Which means you can clear their jungles as long as you have an idea of where they are. Note that you stop both Shen, Fiddlesticks and Warwick ultimates with your knock up.

All of these junglers are fast and do not need to start at blue buff. I don't recommend trying to find these junglers and counter them at all because they have strong early games and will beat you in a 1v1. Their paths are also not easy to predict and they can choose to gank any lane they please at level 2. These guys are also strong at counter jungling you, so take care to place wards at jungle entrances to catch them in the act.

Ok all of these guys are pretty fast in jungle, but start almost 90% of the time at blue buff. ( Master Yi can start wherever, but I see him a lot at blue). These junglers are also strong in a 1v1 with you and can keep you in a duel for extended periods of time due to their abilities to sustain a duel or engage/disengage/engage/disengage you until someone shows up.

Closing Remarks

Ok, we've reached the end! Yay. I hope I was able to show you something you had not already known about Jarvan. I hope this is able to help people learn and play J4 in a competitive way, and I hope this allows you to dominate your normal games in the jungle.